Graham Potter West Ham
(Credit: Imago)
Max Wilkins
Sun 18 May 2025 16:17, UK
West Ham fell to defeat against Nottingham Forest on Sunday in a clash filled with controversy.
The Reds travelled to the London Stadium on 18 May and secured a 2-1 win despite a late Jarrod Bowen strike in E20.
Goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and Nikola Milenkovic were enough to subject Graham Potter to yet another defeat in charge of the Hammers.
Things may have proven to be different for the East Londoners as a Premier League statement has emerged after controversy struck at the London Stadium.
West Ham manager Graham Potter.
West Ham and Graham Potter fell to defeat against Nottingham Forest (Credit: Imago)
Premier League confirm West Ham v Nottingham Forest decision
It was a largely difficult afternoon for the Irons as the away side consistently looked to be the more dangerous of the two.
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Chances came and went for the likes of Chris Wood and Anthony Elanga, who arguably could have scored goals of their own.
This certainly wasn’t the case for the Hammers as only Tomas Soucek had a glimpse at goal until Bowen’s excellent strike with 86 minutes gone.
Stat West Ham Nottingham Forest
Possession 60 40
Shots 16 10
Big chances 0 5
West Ham v Nottingham Forest stats
It is fair to say that this came after the main controversy of the clash at the London Stadium, as Forest looked to have doubled their lead.
VAR checked the decision to give Milenkovic’s goal for over five minutes, leaving fans inside the E20 arena in the dark.
The goal was eventually given by the video assistant, with the Premier League releasing a statement via X (18 May), to explain the decision.
It reads: “The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Milenkovic in an onside position and Domínguez in an offside position, but deemed not to be impacting on play.
“The semi-automated offside technology was not available to the VAR in this incident. There were also issues with the VAR communications to the on-field officials.”
#WHUNFO – 61’
The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Milenkovic in an onside position and Domínguez in an offside position, but deemed not to be impacting on play.
The semi-automated offside technology was not available to the VAR in this incident.…
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) May 18, 2025
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West Ham and Nottingham Forest right to rage at Premier League
It is fair to say that the right decision was reached in East London, as there was nothing wrong with the Serbia international’s goal.
As much as the Irons would have liked to see it ruled out for any reason, it is clear to see that there was no influence from the offside Dominguez.
Despite coming back from an offside position, the Argentine had no influence on the goal, so in that sense, VAR got it right.
However, the fact that supporters sat and waited for over five minutes to learn a decision has to be questioned, especially with no communication to them.
This led to 11 added minutes at the London Stadium, with the atmosphere getting particularly heated, with Jean-Clair Todibo showing his frustrations in particular.
With this being the case, it is fair to say that supporters inside the ground, both home and away, have every reason to be annoyed with the process of VAR and the Premier League’s response.
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